Address
4901 S Minnehaha Park Drive
Minneapolis, MN 55417
Contact
Phone: 612-722-2220
Email: info@minneapolisparks.org
Features & Amenities
- Pay Parking Lot
- Public Art
- Walking Path
Good to Know
Admission Rates:
- $1 Adults
- Children Free
Public Art Sculpture: Colonel John Stevens
Private Tours and Small Group Tours available with reservation.
Special Events offered throughout the year.
The John H. Stevens House is owned and maintained by the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board; the programs, tours and general operations are provided and managed by a volunteer community board.
Your NPP20 money at work:
Maintenance is increasing at all neighborhood parks, thanks to additional annual funding from the 20-Year Neighborhood Park Plan (NPP20). This initiative also funds ongoing rehabilitation and major project to restore neighborhood parks and help address racial and economic equity.
Historical Site Details
History
Stevens was an early settler in St Anthony in 1849. He built the first wood frame house on the west bank of the Mississippi River, just above St. Anthony Falls, in what was to become Minneapolis. That house was later acquired by the park board and is now located in Minnehaha Park.
Charles Loring first suggested acquiring the Stevens House and placing it in Riverside Park in 1887. At one time the park board considered placing the house in Loring Park instead, but then returned to the original plan. The house was relocated in 1896 to Minnehaha Park in a most unusual display of civic participation. The house was pulled by an estimated 10,000 school children, tugging on huge ropes in relay fashion.
After its relocation in 1896, the Stevens House remained there up until July of 1982, when the Junior League requested it to be moved to a permanent location in Minnehaha Park, near the Princess Depot. Along with this request, the Junior League stated that they would seek funding to restore the house after the approval of its relocation. By March of 1983, a lease agreement with the Junior League began and in the following month, the Board approved the move of the Stevens House. On June 30, 1983, to commemorate the house’s first move, school children pulled the Stevens House, with the help of a truck driver, 200 yards to its current location. After the completion of its move and restoration by the Junior League in 1985, the John H. Stevens House was open as a public museum.
A statue of Stevens has also adorned Minneapolis parks since 1911. It was commissioned by Stevens’ daughter, Katharine Stevens Winston, and donated to the city. The park board accepted the statue, with the approval of the Municipal Art Commission, for placement in Stevens Circle. Stevens Circle was then known as Portland Avenue Triangle at Portland and 6th Avenue South. In the resolution accepting the statue, park commissioner Portius Deming said that it portrayed a man who “rocked the cradle of Minneapolis in its infancy,” and a man who was “loved for his generous character, gentle personality and unblemished life.” The statue was created by sculptors Jacob Fjelde (who also created the statue of Hiawatha and Minnehaha above Minnehaha Falls) and John Gelert. When the Municipal Art Commission approved the statue for placement on public land in late 1910 it did so with the suggestion that “in better keeping with the natural dignity of the figure the hat be removed or else held in the hand” and that the statue be given “a suitable architectural background or setting rather than to stand as an isolated figure.” Neither suggestion was followed.
Stevens Triangle was turned over to the city council for traffic purposes in 1935 and the statue of Stevens was relocated to Minnehaha Park. It now stands near the entrance to the Stevens House in the park.
The Stevens House was damaged by three separate fires in 2022 and is currently closed to the public. Repair of the Stevens House is scheduled to begin in 2023.
Park history compiled and written by David C. Smith and updated by Archivist, Katelyn Morken, in 2021 and Park Board staff in 2022.
